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THE ONE WEIRD THING THAT IS KEEPING YOU FROM GETTING STRONGER

When it comes to the subject of weight loss or increasing fitness levels, most people would immediately agree that getting stronger muscles is the ticket to this goal. Knowing this, people start doing strength building exercises…push-ups, sit ups, throwing around the “iron” in weight rooms and the like.

Good stuff, but actually, this is not what I want to discuss today.

I want to ask you a question:

Do you believe that there is any relation to your internal beliefs and your physical muscle strength?

I recently saw a program where a woman was volunteered to demonstrate this exact question.

She had to hold out her arm while the speaker asked her various questions. They were very basic questions and she was told to answer some of them true and some false. The strength of her arm being held out was directly related to whether or not she was telling the truth or lying. It was fascinating. Physics shows that the body’s muscles weaken when a lie is being told. (This did surprise me at first, until I thought about how a lie detector machine works directly with the body’s reaction to telling lies and I suddenly did not find it as such a new thought.)

Wait, there’s more…Next, the speaker asked her to state something that she could not do. So, she stated, “I CAN’T swim well.” and she stated an action. Her arm strength went weak…When she said the same sentence with the words “I CAN swim well.” her arm strength held strong……..

Say what?!

I’m extremely open minded and find the human body and mind endlessly interesting. I was so intrigued that I haven’t stopped thinking about it! If you research Kinesiology, it’s actually quite easy to find tons of scientific evidence that shows why this is true.

But, bottom line, the power of what we tell ourselves about our abilities is EVERYTHING.

How do you “talk” to yourself? Do you have a long list of things you CAN’T do? Think about it….

If you think that those beliefs inside you have no effect on your physical body, think again!

Here and there throughout my life, I’ve met people who say, “Don’t say can’t! That’s a bad word!” And, I always thought that was a ‘nice’ way to live life. But, now, I think it’s more than just something cheeky to say, it’s actually much more powerful than that!

Your assignment:

Start to notice people around you that are successful. Do they constantly talk about how much they CAN’T do? Doubtful!

Notice the same about people who aren’t so successful…do they constantly talk about what they can’t do?...The results you find most likely won’t be surprising.

Stay acutely aware of how often you say CAN'T and let it be something that 'pricks' your consciousness until it becomes second nature to use alternate words. Simply saying, "I'm working on learning how to do that" is much better than saying, "I can't do that."

Heather Hudson has been with 9Round since inception in 2008 and is COO and Co-Founder of 9Round Franchising. She is a black belt in Shotokan Karate and grew up with a passion for fitness and overall wellness.